Newsletter - 2025-01-04

John Player & Sons [tobacco : UK - Nottingham] "Myths and Legends" - Tom Thumb brand (1981) 1/32 - P644-454

And so we start with the small - and also the one carried forward from last week because the date turned out to be wrong.

Now this card is a bit of a tangent from the subject - for the card shows a "Tom Thumb" who did not exist, whilst the date we celebrate here is of an actual person, Charles Sherwood Stratton, though he was called the non-existent name of "General Tom Thumb" by none other than Phineas T. Barnum. 

Our man was born today in 1838, in Connecticut, America, the son of a carpenter, weighing a normal size, nine ounces and eight pounds. Then, at the age of six months, he stopped growing. His parents waited for another six months before asking their doctor, who pronounced that he would probably grow no more. He did continue growing though, as by the time he was five, he had grown about an inch taller, but not gained an ounce in weight. The growth was always small, sometimes between an inch and three inches, and over the period of between a year and five years. When he was twenty-four years old, he measured two feet ten inches. 

Phineas T. Barnum seems to have heard about the remarkable boy and contacted his parents, offering to give the boy a chance in showbusiness, and to teach him acting, singing, and dancing. In 1844 he toured round America, and made quite a stir, and it was on this tour that he was first listed on the playbills as General Tom Thumb. After a break, the tour moved on, to Europe, for three years, during which he met Queen Victoria and the future Edward VII. 

In 1863 he married, Lavinia Warren, who was also small, and a fellow performer. She seems to have taken a fancy to Charles Stratton before she ever saw him, so much so that she begged Phineas T Barnum to take her into the troupe. And though she was wooed by many, she was steadfast, and, after meeting Charles Stratton one day at Barnum`s American Museum, he was pursued by her so much that he eventually gave up and they were wed, at Grace Episcopal Church in New York, at an event that was definitely front page news.

Much is written of how performers are treated unfairly by their managers, but Phineas T. Barnum seems to have a good man, he allowed Charles Stratton`s parents to have a full say in everything to do with their son`s career, and allowed them to control the income as a proper business. Once the father died, in 1855, the money went to Charles Stratton alone, and Phineas T Barnum advised him on how to spend it best, two houses, one in New York and one in Connecticut, and a yacht, and, always, immaculate clothing, regularly replaced. And Charles Stratton helped Phineas T Barnum with money, several times, when the course of the tours did not run so smoothly. Eventually the pair made it official, and went into business together. 

In 1883 Charles Stratton, and his wife, were among the very few survivors of a massive hotel fire. Then they are supposed to have started working at the Lyceum Theatre in Boston, which had been converted into a zoo, an aquarium, and a museum of curiosities. The Strattons were said to be amongst many celebrities at the opening, along with another man, an Italian, Count Primo Magri.. However that museum did not open until 1885, and Charles Stratton died less than six months after the hotel fire, aged just forty-five, of a stroke, after which he was buried in Connecticut, in a grave topped with a life size statue of him, paid for by Phineas T. Barnum.

After that, his wife wanted to bow out of showbusiness, but was persuaded not to. And a  couple of years after this, she remarried, Count Primo Magri. They remained in the public eye, and even made a film together, in 1915, called "The Lilliputians' Courtship". She was then seventy three years old, and she lived for another four years, after which she was buried, next to Charles Stratton. This could have been demonstrating her true affection, but the truth is that her second husband was still alive, he only died in 1920.

Strangely I know of only one card that shows our man, and his wife - and that is number 19/24 of Cadbury`s "Strange But True", where he is billed as "The Miniature Man". Yet I am sure he must have deserved a place in either Ogden`s Tabs or Guinea Gold, I just have not been able to find him.

To our card - and it seems fitting that this Tom Thumb should have not only been issued by the cigars of the same name, but that he was number one in the set. Unusually, too, the artist`s name appears on the card, Cecil Viewig, not only as a signature, but in the credits; I cannot count how many times in the past I have bemoaned that the wonderful piece of artwork in front of me has absolutely nothing to show who created it. 

The set is rather scantly described in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index (being issued too late for inclusion in our original 1950s volume) as : 

MYTHS & LEGENDS. Nd. (32) ... P644-454

However it is very possible that I may be able to find the original "New Issues" report for this set and as soon as I do I will scan it and attach it here. 

Topps [trade : bubble gum : USA] "Superman" (1965) 5/66

Off to the super now, with this man, George Keefer Brewer, born today in 1914. He seems to have had rather a turbulent childhood, his parents having only married a few months before his birth, and separating shortly after. Apparently his father married again, but never got back in touch with his former family. His mother moved about for a while, and settled with her sister in California, where she met and married another man, who seems kind, but they divorced, about ten years after. For some reason the mother told little George that his new father had died, though he lived until the mid 1940s. 

When George Brewer went to high school, as many future stars do, he discovered theatrics, and he enjoyed them. In fact he declared that he was going to be an actor after he left school. He also got his first part in the movies, in "Gone With The Wind", with dyed hair, as one of the redheaded Tarleton brothers, who fail to sway Scarlett O`Hara`s heart away from the dashing Rhett Butler. 

The next year saw him married, to a fellow acting student, put on contract by Warner Brothers, and acting in several films, all of which were released before "Gone With The Wind" had been, at last, finished, and deemed ready to screen - the final production having taken a year. Not long after that, Warners decided they did not want to retain his services. He moved to Twentieth Century Fox, and again was dropped. Eventually he picked up a contract to play Hopalong Cassidy, in five films, but was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force in 1943, though he ended up with the entertainment department and even made training films for the forces. 

After the war, and newly divorced, he went back to motion pictures. One of his parts, though not so big, was to prove important. This was in "From Here to Eternity", which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, something he was able to put on his resume. 

In 1951 he was offered the chance to play a comic book character, Superman, on television. He was unsure, because at that time serious actors made films, not television programmes. However he was swayed by the fact that the first episode, the pilot, was going to be shown in cinemas, albeit as a supporting film to a better one. The only problem was that the contract was very rigorous, and exclusive, and it meant that he could not take any parts which could affect the hectic Superman schedule. 

He is reported to have enjoyed the part, and it helped him to slow down his smoking habit too, for he could no longer smoke where children could see him. However, after two seasons he was getting bored, with everything. He was forty, and he wanted new adventures, more money, better roles, in films. He even started his own company, but he was enticed back to the Superman series by better money. 

By 1959 he had ended one long term relationship and begun another. He was spending more than he had been getting for Superman, but there were rumours of another series, as well as a tour to promote it. However, he was not sure he wanted to play Superman ever again. Then, in June 1959, he was found, shot dead, at home. There is much speculation about who, and why, along with stories that he had decided to shoot himself because he did not want to play Superman again but could not get any other work. Most of the rumours that led to it being judged a suicide seem to have been started by his girlfriend of the time, possibly to cover something else up, and we will probably never know what. A recent-ish film, "Hollywoodland" (2006) explores a few theories, but that is all they are, and probably will ever be. There is no idea where the tale of his reported death at the Hollywoodland sign ever came from. 

Now if anyone knows of a card which shows the Tarleton brothers from "Gone With The Wind", that would be his true "Rookie" card. However, at the moment, that honour goes to a package issue, printed, as part of a set of thirty-six unnumbered pictures, called "ATV Stars", on the side of a sweet cigarette packet, issued by Kane Products Ltd in 1958. ATV, or Associated Television, was part of ITV, the independent rival to the BBC. As BBC had considerably bigger fame and budgets, the ITV network used lots of little regional companies to provide their output, at different times of the week, hence ATV programmed were screened in London only at weekends, and in the Midlands during the week. Now thanks to the wonders of the internet, I know that on Wednesday the 20th of February, 1957, the programme "Adventures of Superman", starring George Reeves, had made its debut on ITV, so this must have happened in the Midlands region, though maybe it was repeated at the weekend for the London viewers. .  

This set was issued by Topps in 1966, in packets of six cards and a stick of bubble gum, which retailed for five cents each. Oddly, some way into the series it picked up a sponsor, Kelloggs, but they do not seem to have issued any cards. The scenes come from the entire series, and cover all six seasons.

There is some debate over the date of issue of these cards, some sites saying 1965/1966, but the main set was definitely issued in 1966. The 1965 sets, of which there were very few produced, presumably for promotional purposes, had black and white backs, not pink, and there were only forty-four cards. However the orange back cards also say 1965, which was the date of the copyright. 

WALDORF-ASTORIA Zigarettenfabrik A.G. [tobacco : O/S - Munich and Stuttgart, Germany] "Die Nachkreigszeit" / "The Post War Period" (1935) 85/252 - W080-360 : W8-6 : X24/15.B

Today in 1925, a ship called Emden was launched, and, thanks to reader Mr. Jacobs, we now have a card which actually shows her (rather than the one we started with which showed the other Emden, which fought in the First World War).

This Emden was a cruiser, and she was used in the German invasion of Denmark, and Norway in April 1940, especially in the invasion of Oslo. The reason that those countries were required was that they led straight on to the North Sea, and to our shipping. There was another reason too, Sweden being a heavy producer of iron ore, which used to be, before the outbreak of the Second World War, exported to Germany. but was then being sent to Norway instead. After that she was used as a training ship in the Baltic, before joining on to the Baltic Fleet in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia. Like her predecessor, her end was at the hands of the Allied force, she was attacked whilst being repaired in Kiel, and then blown up to stop her falling into the Allied hands as their invasion seemed to be getting more likely. 

This ship was one of several cruisers named after the city of Emden, starting with the 1908 SMS Emden, which was based in Asia, and her first action in the First World War was to pick up a Russian ship and transform her into a German ship, which it was felt could be used as a decoy. This did not work so well, and her crew became the first German forces either to be killed by, or become prisoners of war of American forces. She then took part in the Battle of Penang, and headed off to raid the Cocos Islands, then in British hands, which had a wireless station direct to Australia, via a cable which the Germans hoped to cut. However, whilst SMS Emden was there she was attacked by the Australian ship HMAS Sydney, during which about a third of the crew were killed and the rest taken prisoner. The ship survived, slowly falling apart until the 1950s, when it was taken away and scrapped. 

Her replacement was the SMS Emden of 1916, which mainly operated on the Russian Front (remember that in the First World War, Russia was an ally), but she was scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919.

The name has also been used since, for two frigates, in the 1960s and 1970s - and in this year, 2025, it is expected to be used again for a corvette. 

This set first appears in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, along with a short heading about the company, which reads : "Amalgamated with G. Zuban in the 1930s. German language issues, period 1928-42. Includes brand issue inscribed "Oberst" and "Cigarettes-Bilderdienst, Dresden". Special albums issued." Our set is described as : 

DIE NACHSKRIEGSZEIT (The Post War Period). Md. 62 x 52. Nd. (252). See X24/15.B ... W8-6

This text is identical in our updated version of this book, but without the "X" number, for that relates to the entry in the original handbook, which was at first a separate volume, but in later printings of the original World Tobacco Issues Index became combined therein.

The entry gives another issuer of this same set, and reads : 

X24/15 DIE NACHSKRIEGSZEIT (The Post War Period). Medium size. 62 x 52. Numbered series of 252.
A. Eckstein-Halpaus
B. Waldorf-Astoria

You may not realise this, but Waldorf-Astoria was actually named after Johann Jakob Astor, and his birthplace, Walldorf. However he seems to have had no involvement in the company, save providing the inspiration and the name. The company was founded in 1906, and there were branches in Hamburg and Stuttgart. In fact it was one of the biggest employers in those regions, but they did not move with the times, and as new companies came in with more progressive ideas and better, faster, manufacturing equipment, it fell behind, and was liquidated in 1929. It was taken over by another company and ended up as part of the Reemstma stable, who were also based in Hamburg 

As far as the other issuer, Eckstein-Halpaus Cigarettenfabrik G.m.b.H, well we showed a card from their version in our newsletter for the 2nd of November, 2024 - just scroll down to Thursday the 7th of November.

Echte Wagner [trade : margarine : O/S - Germany] "Beruhmte Filmschauspieler" (1928) Album 3, Series 34, Card 4

Today in 1890 saw the birth of Frieda Ulricke "Henny" Porten. Her name will probably be unknown to many of our readers but she was a very important woman indeed, for she was an actress and also a film producer, at a time when few women did those things, especially not in Germany. And it is true to say that her positive representation of women led to her becoming the first German superstar. She also had a huge output, almost two hundred films, counting both those she was in and those she worked on behind the scenes. And she was still making films into the 1950s. 

She came from film stock, her father being both an actor and director. He almost certainly allowed her to watch and to help, and she became enthralled in the process. Strangely though, she showed no interest in going on the theatre stage, film was her one vocation, always.

She dreamed of starting a film company with her husband, who had been the director of her early films, but sadly he was killed in the First World War, in 1916. After the war, she simply started a company on her own. Her focus was always on telling stories of normal people, with an eye to social reform, and hoping that women were empowered to step away from the drudgery and repression that often formed their lives. 

She remarried in 1921, to a doctor, of Jewish birth, and this caused her great trouble, she was unable to leave the country with him, and she refused to divorce him and go alone. She did make films, but under duress, though often with hidden symbols to foster, and encourage rebellion. And they did stay married, until his death, in 1959. She died just a few months later

This card is quite unusual for Echte Wagner, being monotone, with a greenish hue. The film shown, "Die Grosse Pause", is known in English as "The Long Intermission", and it was released on the 9th of November 1927, quite late in her career, and it is based on a play by Oscar Blumenthal and Max Bernstein. It was also directed by Carl Froelich, who had become involved with her own production company in 1924. However, little is known about the film, and the stills which remain do not give us much idea of the plot. 

Bel [trade : cheese : O/S - France] "Mini-affiches de Cinéma" / "Mini Film Posters" (1984)

Still with a musical theme, but a slightly different one, for today, in 1935, saw the birth of Elvis Aaron Presley. He was a singer, and a teenybopper idol, but also he broke many barriers with his so called "provocative" performances, and his nods to many coloured musicians whose work would have otherwise been ignored at that time, as well as bringing it to a new, younger, and wider audience, who were more open to acceptance. 

He was born in Mississippi, in Tupelo, but moved to Memphis in 1954 just as he became a teenager. His interest in music was encouraged by finding friends, and also by a visit to local company Sun Records, who wanted to break down the barriers so that music was universally acceptable. 

His first single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in 1956 and became his first number one. In November of the same year he made his first movie, "Love me Tender".

After making the film on our card. "King Creole", in 1958, which Elvis always said was his favourite, he was drafted into the military. He was actually given deferrment so that he could complete the film. He was famous enough to have refused to do his time in the forces, but instead he chose to go, seeing his hair shaven and wearing regulation uniform. This endeared him all the further to his fans, though all agreed he looked very different.He went, as all military personnel, for basic training, and was then assigned to the First Medium Tank Battalion in West Germany. 

He served for two years during which he met his wife, Priscilla, at a party. Her father was also in the military in Germany, but in the Air Force.  When he came home he restarted his career and made several more movies.

His extended appearance in Las Vegas in the late 1960s led to many tours, and much worldwide acclaim, but he was already becoming unwell, and overweight. He died in August 1977, aged just forty-two.

Elvis appears on many trading cards, but this set is unusual It was issued by La Vache Qui Rit and is a series of film posters, which were designed to fit on a pillar that illuminated at night. This is shown on the back of the card. The posters are listed on the back of the card but they are in French, some time I will translate them for you. I notice one is "Return of the Jedi" though. 

This is a super card, and it very ably commemorates the fact that today, in 1816, Humphrey Davy first tested his miner`s safety lamp, at Hebburn Colliery.

He produced the lamp not only because he was shocked by news of several explosions in coal mines across the North East, which had been caused by the flames of the miner`s lamps igniting small seams of gas that were opened as they worked - but because he was directly contacted by the Rector of Bishopwearmouth about the problem. Humphrey Davy ended up making several prototypes, refining each one, until he had a standard flame but with a sleeve of wire gauze. This allowed the light out, but did not allow the heat to pass through in sufficient quantity to spark an explosion. 

The test was a great success and it led to the lamp being adopted in many areas. It did indeed lead to less miners being killed, but also to greater productivity, for the miners were not needing to dim their light and stop working the moment the flame flickered. 

There was a rival though, George Stephenson, who was working as a mining engineer at Killingworth Colliery. His lamp, as you might suspect, was based on a very similar idea, and the two men were soon fighting over who owned the right to the system. For some reason, and I have not yet investigated this yet, Humphrey Davy`s lamp was the winner, which, amongst other things, led to him becoming the President of the Royal Society, whilst Stephenson, rather disgruntledly, went off and invented a way of powering locomotives by steam. 

Gallaher  Ltd. [tobacco : UK - Belfast & :London] “The Great War : Victoria Cross Heroes (1915) 8th Series of 25, card no.185 - G075-160.8 : G12-20.8 : Ha.492.3 : X1-Ha.492.3.A

And so we close, with this man, Albert Jacka, born today in 1893, and the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross. 

The medal was for his actions at Gallipoli, but he also fought on the Western Front, where he was awarded the Military Cross, twice (though only one medal can be awarded, the second is marked by a metal bar which fixes on the ribbon). 

After he was demobbed he returned to Australia and set up as a shopkeeper, selling electrical goods, and eventually both importing them and exporting them. He also became Mayor of St. Kilda. 

However he was never the same after his war service, he had been injured physically, and mentally, and reportedly, though he was not shy of starting or continuing fights, the event for which he won the Victoria Cross haunted him the rest of his life. He died, in January 1932, aged just thirty-nine. 

I am sure there is a lot more to this story, so I will keep chipping away at it over the weekend. I have found an excellent web page on him at the Australian War Memorial/A.Jacka which contains his biography. Thrillingly, they also hold his medals. 

As far as the missing data from our reference books, which I did not have time to add, this can be read elsewhere in our site, on the home page for this multi-parted set, as our Card of the Day for the 24th of June, 2022